Proven
by evelinaonline
Summary: Twelve days. They had known each other for twelve days. When Jay and Cole are left by themselves for a whole week, they decide to bond over something other than video games; jogging. [Platonic Bruiseshipping, Jay & Cole Friendship]


Every day would start the same way. Sensei Wu would bang on a gong to wake his ninja up and Jay and Cole would exchange tired looks. Then, they'd be forced to get off bed and begin training. Their new lifestyle was going to take them a while to get used to. Until then, waking up seemed like a chore.

Not for the following week, however.

Sensei had told Cole and Jay that he would be leaving the Monastery for a week, to find a new student. Both guys were upset that they were not going to see Sensei for a while but they quickly got over it.

They hadn't known each other for long. According to Jay, who had a habit of counting days, it had been a total of eight days. "Day one of being a ninja!" he'd say every night, changing the number each time.

Even so, they found out they got along just fine. Sure, there were a lot of differences between the two boys. For example, Cole liked to keep everything tidy while Jay couldn't care less if there was a pair of dirty socks in the corner of their room. Additionally, Jay loved to spend his spare time playing video games while Cole was keen on drawing.

In the end of it all, it was nice to have some company during their journey. It may have only been a few days, but they had figured out how to work as a team.

Cole suggested they put a basket for their clothes in the room. Not only would it keep everything clean, but it'd be a nice way of entertainment. It was like mini basketball shooting! Jay insisted he was better at aiming than him but Cole wasn't going to go down that easily.

Similarly, Jay offered his favourite controller to Cole so that he could join him to his video game battles. Cole was terrible at it but he enjoyed it regardless. Most of the time, Cole would simply join Jay in the living room to draw. They were both doing what they loved, but they were doing it together. That was a core element of their bonding.

And now, they had a week off together. No waking up early, no intense training… It seemed too good to be true. But it was real, and the two ninja were more than excited for their free time to begin.

The first day, Jay didn't even bother getting out of bed. Not to mention that the two of them slept in. They soon got hungry and Jay decided not to put his stomach in danger by allowing Cole to make breakfast. That was another thing Jay had learnt about Cole; he sucked at cooking.

They spent the rest of the day lazing out. Cole tried to tell Jay that he was going to burn his brains in front of the TV screen and Jay only responded by telling him that his hand was going to fall off by drawing so much. They agreed that they'd both take a break after dinner.

Which meant going straight to bed.

The two following days went by in a similar way. Not once did they think about training. At the very least, they'd been together and hadn't completely isolated themselves.

On the fourth day, guilt took them over.

"Hey, Jay?"

Jay had just finished frying some bacon. He served Cole his breakfast and took a seat across of him. "Bacon and eggs for you, sir!"

Jay was still in his favourite blue pyjamas. The sleeves and pants were too long for him. Jay was quite small, after all. He had to roll up the sleeves in order for them not to get dirty. As for the pants, he just let them sweep the floor.

Cole shook his head and smiled. Unlike Jay, he had changed into his normal clothes. At first he wasn't a big fond of Jay's goofiness but he came to enjoy it. Sometimes, a joke was all he needed to snap him out of bad thoughts.

He grabbed his fork and knife and took a bite of his food. Much to Jay's surprise, Cole sighed in disappointment.

"... Is it not good?" Jay frowned.

"No." Cole said. "It's _very_ good. I'd kill to be able to cook properly like you!"

"Oh!" Jay chuckled. "Well, you will get better with time! From what I know, you never really had to chance to cook for yourself back home."

"I did tell you that, didn't I?" Cole smiled. "Thanks, Jay."

"Anytime!" Jay winked at him playfully. "Anyway, you wanted to say something before, what's up?"

"Right." Cole began. "Is it just me or… Doesn't it feel kind of unfair that Sensei trusted us to stay by ourselves and we are taking an advantage out of that? We just sit down on the couch and do nothing all day… Would he really want that?"

Jay looked down at his plate. "I was thinking about that too… But I am really not in the mood of morning training."

"You and me both." Cole said. "Maybe we can do some minor exercise. No need to shake up the whole Monastery with the training course, you know?"

"Like what, climb up mountains?" Jay joked and shoved some food in his mouth. "No thanks, I'd fall off instantly. You may be experienced, but I'm not!"

"How about jogging then? Jamanakai Village is not far from here, and it's perfect for that!"

"You know what, Brookstone?" Jay said. "That sounds like my kind of thing."

* * *

"Jogging really isn't my thing!" Jay panted as he bended to lean on his knees. "How long have we been running for?"

The ninja had jogged all the way to Jamanakai Village and were now on their way back to the Monastery. At first, they were going with the same pace but it didn't take long for Jay to fall behind. He caught up with Cole multiple times but eventually reached his breaking point.

"An hour and a half, maybe?" Cole slowed down and looked over his shoulder. Without thinking about it twice, he turned around and jogged back to Jay. "Are you alright?"

"If by alright you mean ready to have a heart attack, then yes, I'm more than alright!" Jay let himself fall on the ground. "I feel as if I'm about to faint."

"Woah." Cole mumbled. He offered a hand to help Jay up, but Jay didn't accept it. Seeing how he had no intention of getting up, Cole decided to sit down next to him. "Want me to carry you back home, princess?"

"I'm an inventor, not a princess!" Jay exclaimed. "And guess what? Inventors and ninja don't go together! Not once have I stepped into a gym as a kid!" he crossed his arms.

Jay's face was bright red. From anger or tiredness, Cole couldn't tell. He was exhaling and inhaling air at a fast pace, exposing how exhausted the exercise had made him.

If there was one thing Cole had learnt about Jay from day one, it was that he tended to burst into an endless pile of words the moment he felt anxious. In an uncomfortable situation, Jay would analyze all the negative aspects of it and say them out loud.

When he was asked about it, Jay shook it off. It was obvious that the subject wasn't something he wanted to open up about. Cole couldn't help but wonder if there'd be a day Jay would trust him enough to talk to him about it.

"Remember what you told me this morning?" Cole asked.

"What?" Jay mumbled.

"You said, 'you will get better with time'." Cole helped him recall their conversation from earlier that day.

"Well yes, but-" Jay turned around to face Cole. "Ever since day one, you were able to follow up with training without getting tired, and then there's me who can't finish the warm-up exercises without feeling as if I got ran over by a track!"

"Don't forget that I was familiar with the course. I was Sensei's student before you."

"Yes, for like, five days-!"

"And I also spent a year of my life climbing mountains." Cole reminded him. "It takes time, Jay. _You_ said this. And you are right." he placed an arm on his shoulder.

Jay sighed deeply. "No, you're right. I'm sorry for freaking out like this… Again."

"We all have our bad days." Cole said. "But hey, that just makes good times even cooler!"

Jay grinned. "That sounds like something Sensei would say. Only he'd phrase it in a more sophisticated way."

"Oh, you mean something like this?" Cole straightened his back and tried to mimic Wu's voice. "'There will always be obstacles in the way. In order to surpass them, you must accept them. Then, you will reach your destination. A better tomorrow, filled with tea!'"

That was it for Jay. He bursted out laughing, soon followed by Cole. "If this isn't Sensei Wu, I don't know who it is!"

"Come on." Cole stood up. "We should get back. How about we play some video games? Wouldn't you like that?"

"Really?!" Jay jumped on his feet in joy. "Though now that I think about it… Let's follow Sensei's training just this time."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Who are you and what did you do to Jay?"

"On one condition!" Jay interrupted him. "You _will_ carry me on your back."

The other ninja almost gasped. "Jay, oh my god, you can't be serious."

"Oh, I am!" Jay smirked. "Besides, you suggested doing it before, I don't see why you'd suddenly be unable to do it. Aaaand, I may or may not love piggyback rides." he snickered.

Cole smiled widely, shaking his head. "Now that's the Jay I know and love!"

"Cole, we've been friends for like, a week." Jay pointed out.

"Twelve days." Cole ruffled the shorter boy's hair playfully.

"I thought I was the one counting the days!"

"Not anymore." Cole smirked, causing Jay to elbow him.

"Very funny!" Jay pretended to be annoyed but it was clear that he was enjoying their conversation. "One week, twelve days, same thing! It's still not _that_ long."

"But it still makes us friends!" Cole insisted.

"Who knows?" Jay started walking towards the Monastery, sparing Cole from his duty to carry him. "Maybe one day, we'll even be _best_ friends."

"You think?" Cole smirked. "Well, you do have that new student of Sensei to compete against."

"Oh, shut up!" Jay punched Cole's arm again and laughed. "Maybe you're the one that has to compete against him!"

"It's just a matter of time." Cole shrugged and stuck his tongue out at Jay.

"And I have three and a half days left to prove I'm the best." Jay smiled.

"Don't worry, Jay." Cole smiled back at him and patted his back. "You've already proven it to me."


End file.
